Crime scene. Also yes, according to Sullivan County District Attorney Jim Farrell.

On Wednesday he sent a letter to the Village of Monticello ordering it to leave untouched the pile of debris left from last year's demolition of the old village courthouse, which spawned several arrests and a state investigation.

This week Mayor Gordon Jenkins and Trustees Rochelle Massey and James Matthews voted to accept a bid for clearing the site of the pile of rubble that has greeted drivers and pedestrians since the state ordered work at the site halted because of asbestos.

But Farrell is calling the site an active crime scene because of an ongoing investigation by the Department of Environmental Conservation. He is threatening to use "all legal remedies" to keep the site untouched.

"I am directing that you take no action until the Department of Environmental Conservation has completed its investigation," Farrell said in a letter to Jenkins and Village Manager Allan Thompson. "Should you or your contractor fail to recognize this, I will pursue all legal remedies," he wrote.

A spokesman for the DEC confirmed via email that the department is continuing an investigation in collaboration with Farrell's office.

It was the DEC that on Oct. 2 arrested six workers who demolished the court building and an unsafe building on Broadway. They were accused of illegally dumping debris at a property off Fairground Road. What remains of the court debris has sat untouched since then.

"The debris that is situated there is still considered a crime scene, and it contains physical evidence relative to a prospective criminal proceeding," Farrell told the village.

Two companies responded to a bid to clean the court site and the Fairground Road property. Chester-based Specialty Trades bid $94,500, and Union City, N.J.-based LAM&R Construction Corp. bid $62,500.

Jenkins, Massey and Matthews voted Monday to accept the low bid, but Trustee Carmen Rue said the DEC is expected back at the site to do more investigative work.